I'm a primary (elementary) teacher who runs an after-school art club. This blog records all of my art activities with instructions and examples of work that my club produces. I also post artwork from my usual class.

Sunday, 9 November 2014

Class Art- Roman Shields

As I have previously mentioned, our unit last half-term was "I Am Warrior" which looked closely at the Romans (and the Celts to a lesser degree).

We took it upon ourselves to design and create our own scutum (shield). In an effort to have some uniformity, we ended up limiting the children to using primary colours (red, blue and yellow) but they could also use some metallic paint at the very end to add extra detail.

Step 1
Having designed their shields in their sketchbooks, the children used cardboard they had brought in to create their basic shape. They cut out the outline for their shield and then cut out and glued shapes on top of this to create more of a 3D shape and emphasise certain parts of their shield as shown below:

We showed the children how to use the smaller shape they had cut out as a stencil. They could then keep gluing the same shape on top of eachother to dramatically raise the level and make it even more 3D.

Step 2
Each table had a large bowl of a 50% water/50% pva glue solution. Children then had to dip thin strips of scrap paper into this solution and stick it smoothly across the entire shield until it was covered. This is a papier-mache technique that I find isn't quite as messy as some alternative methods. When it's dry it's nice and solid!

Step 3
When it is completely dry, you can use the primary colours to paint your shield. Start off with the base layer and then paint on top when it is dry for the best results. At the very end, you can add extra details using metallic paint.
We were very pleased with the results and the great colours and designs. Next time, we'll probably try and push for more variety in their shapes but it was a fantastic first effort.

At the end of the unit we had our Roman Day and the shields had a good outing being used for marching and battle reenactments.